This saying is closely connected in thought to 15.13 and 17.22. In those sayings a contrast is made between the broken spirit and a cheerful heart. Here it seems that the broken spirit has no healing.

“A man’s spirit will endure sickness”: Good News Translation has interpreted “spirit” as “[your] will to live” and translates “endure sickness” as “can sustain you when you are sick.” In some languages if this model is followed, it will be necessary to say something like “desire to go on living” or “desire to stay alive.”

“But a broken spirit who can bear?”: “A broken spirit” renders the same Hebrew expression translated by Revised Standard Version in 17.22 as “a downcast spirit” meaning “discouragement” or “despair.” However, Good News Translation makes “spirit” refer to the same “will to live” as in the first line: “but if you lose it. . ..” “Bear” renders a word meaning to carry a load. In this case the burden is the emotional one of despair. Stated as a question we may ask “Can anyone stand it?” “Who can bear up under it?” or “Who is able to carry on?” Since the question is rhetorical, it may also be put as a statement; for example, “No one can bear it.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .